[You have entered the strengthened Tower of Despair's 91st floor, 'The First Trial of the Corrupted World Tree, Nemesis']
[Due to the tower's strengthening, the difficulty of the 91st floor has increased dramatically!]
[The monsters that appear have been changed to entities with higher grades and levels!]
[In the strengthened tower, factors used for clear grade evaluation are not reflected! Upon clearing, you will unconditionally receive an SSS+ grade!]
I furrowed my brow.
Did I have some kind of connection with corruption in my past life?
Everywhere I went, there was corruption.
I looked around at the statue-like objects placed around me.
Every single one of them depicted figures stabbing each other in the back, as if trying to express something.
It seemed fitting for something grandly named a trial.
By the way, when was this collaborator friend going to show up?
Being late for the first meeting—minus one point for first impressions!
Whoosh...!
It didn't seem like they were going to be a gentleman.
A thick beam of light fell from the sky.
[The army of #$(*$ is being summoned!]
[The high-ranking follower 'Marvin Rodogus, the Gentle Smile Amidst the Pouring Light' has been selected as the commander!]
I rubbed the back of my neck.
I got goosebumps without even realizing it.
It was a name that sounded incredibly impressive, but it wasn't really my style.
"Oh, exalted celestial leader. Your messenger has arrived."
The first thing he did upon being summoned was kneel on one knee and pray.
It seemed this man and his army were quite devout.
I let out a low sigh as the prayer continued for a long time.
It was fortunate that the floor was strengthened.
If it hadn't been, I would have gone ahead and cleared it myself, collaborator or not.
Slowly.
Marvin, having finished his lengthy prayer, walked toward me.
He was dressed in a white robe that looked like it had just been taken out of bleach.
How could it be so spotless?
The army following behind him was also clad in pure white armor.
They were so clean that calling them an army of pure white wouldn't be an exaggeration at all.
Marvin stopped right in front of me and adjusted his glasses.
"Are you the one? The one our gods have chosen."
"I'm not sure about being chosen. For now, just help—"
"Why aren't you offering a prayer while standing on the battlefield?"
Cutting me off right from the first word—adding minus one hundred points to first impressions.
"I don't have a religion—"
"Do you think you'll always win on the battlefield? Or do you mistakenly believe that everything you have was earned by yourself? Without the gods' care, you would have been nothing. Just one of the countless pebbles rolling on the ground."
Minus ten thousand points.
I'll just stop talking.
It seemed like no matter what I said, he'd cut me off.
Should I change his alias from 'Gentle Smile Amidst the Pouring Light' to 'Word Chopper' or 'Rude Glasses Guy with Terrible First Impressions'?
"Hmm."
Marvin stared intently at Jinhyuk.
Even without looking closely, I could tell.
This guy was suspicious.
'They're all like that.'
Foolish and pitiful beings, buried in lies their whole lives without even knowing what the truth is.
Such people need enlightenment.
And for that enlightenment, they need to be shown.
The omnipotence of the gods, the power of those blessed by the gods.
"I ask that you witness it here with your own eyes. Our great and holy crusade."
"Ah... yes."
"And I dare warn you—you cannot endure this trial. So stay still. Unless you want to be crushed by the trial and burst to death."
Instead of answering, I gave him a thumbs down.
I was planning to do that anyway.
If he was going to clear it on his own, why would I need to move?
Marvin and his army turned and walked away with graceful movements.
I muttered quietly at the back of Marvin's head.
"The great sin of gluttony and sloth, born from darkness."
Anyone watching would have thought a wide-area stun spell had been cast.
Marvin and his army stopped in their tracks simultaneously, as if on cue.
Marvin slowly turned around, his face filled with clear disgust and contempt.
"How dare you utter that blasphemous name."
"Is it a name you know?"
"It would be best if you never uttered it again."
Marvin gritted his teeth.
If the god hadn't needed this idiot, he would have torn him apart right then and there.
Jinhyuk looked up at the sky.
"I hope the god didn't hear that."
"Consider yourself fortunate that interfering with the floor is impossible except through contractual agreements with the tower. That's why he wouldn't have heard it."
The corner of my mouth twitched.
'He can't see or hear.'
I had expected this to some extent.
The system was the kind of being that went through procedures like territory transfer and mutual confirmation even for a brief conversation.
"I'll have to be careful. Now, stop worrying about me and start your crusade."
Marvin, who had been about to say something, closed his mouth.
Just exchanging words felt like being contaminated and rotting away.
"God, grant us a blessing that will never be breached by any impurity."
As he muttered quietly, a white shield enveloped Marvin Rodogus and his army.
It was a blessing that would block the powerful trials of this place.
Rumble!
As Marvin and his army picked up speed, the Corrupted World Tree Nemesis also reacted.
[The first trial is given to those within range!]
Monsters with bizarre appearances began to emerge from the ground.
Jinhyuk watched from a distance with a satisfied smile.
Auto-hunting was amazing.
* * *
Inside the barrier that Kamela had created.
I had brought out some fine tea and snacks, holding a small tea party.
Slurp.
"Mmm."
I closed my eyes at the rich aroma of tea.
It was excellent for calming the mind and body.
Of course, outside the barrier...
Boom!! Bang! Clang!!
Marvin Rodogus, the Gentle Smile Amidst the Pouring Light, and his army were engaged in fierce combat.
"What are you doing! You should have moved the heavy cavalry to the side—crunch—and then had the archers shoot first—crack!"
"Right! What's with that rotten smile glasses guy! He doesn't even know how to do that properly—munch munch! Let me do it! Come out!"
It was fortunate that Kamela's barrier was there.
If it hadn't been, Marvin wouldn't have been able to endure this meddling and would have retreated.
"He's fighting well."
"Indeed."
It wasn't for nothing that he had such a grandiose alias.
Marvin Rodogus, the minus-one-million-points-first-impression glasses guy.
Despite the strong monsters and troublesome status effects pouring in, fitting for a strengthened floor, he continued the battle without difficulty.
"Nia, have you seen that glasses guy before?"
"Yeah. He came to my altar before."
"So you did know each other."
-How dare you utter that blasphemous name. It would be best if you never uttered it again.
No wonder he reacted so strongly.
He was someone who had actually seen Nia before.
"But Nia. I thought those guys were followers of the light god or something, but they're not, are they? It feels fundamentally different from Azriel, who was light itself."
"Ohh."
Nia's eyes sparkled as she looked up at me.
"As expected, Master is a genius...! That's really hard to notice."
I scratched the back of my head awkwardly.
Praise from Nia the Slumber Mambo—it felt good.
Nia continued.
"For those guys, light is just a shell hiding the core. A truly ugly and rotten core."
My eyes widened involuntarily.
Since when could she speak like this!?
Feeling oddly proud, I patted Nia's head.
Kamela, who had finished checking the barrier, walked over.
"Is there a reason they hide the core? Those who call themselves gods are usually arrogant. They're usually desperate to show off more."
"They realized it was advantageous."
"Realized?"
"The more worship and adoration they receive from others, the stronger they get... Cooool."
Nia's head dropped.
I poked her cheek, but she didn't wake up.
It seemed she had completely fallen into dreamland.
"She did talk a lot more than usual."
"That's understandable. Even if you added up everything she's said since joining the party, it probably wouldn't be more than what she just said."
After putting Nia into a baby sleeping bag, I rubbed my chin.
It was cut off in the middle, but I had heard most of what was necessary.
Whoosh.
Kamela blew out smoke and stared at Marvin and his army.
"As the Slumber Mambo said. Looking closely, I can see things that weren't there with Azriel. A very murky and corrupted energy. It's tightly wrapped so most people can't see it."
"It kind of suits them. Like the Cheonil Church that approached me."
After Min Soyul had visited, I had looked into the Cheonil Church quite a bit.
A religion that started in Korea, spread through Asia, and even reached the West.
People unanimously described the Cheonil Church like this:
A cult that, once you fall into it, your life goes down the drain.
I had actually read a few testimonials from people who were recruited and then escaped.
The method of approaching under the guise of goodwill and help, then revealing their true colors the moment they judged you were hooked.
It was very similar to those guys who hid rottenness inside light.
"They've been around for a long time, huh? Cults that exploit people's weaknesses and lead them into a pit?"
Twitch!?
"What did you say, you old hag who's on her last legs! Are you finally committing friendly fire?! Did you just call that cult hag a cult?!"
"Keep watching quietly, okay? Unless you didn't see the teaspoon in my hand."
"What are you talking about? I'd ask if you've gone senile, but you're always senile, so it's weir—"
Smack!
Elia reached out and smacked Kancho's head with the teaspoon.
Then she quickly opened the door to the Star Workshop.
"Where do you think you're running!?"
Perhaps because this pattern had repeated several times.
Kancho swung Grandpa Toto's bamboo fishing rod.
"Huh!?"
Kancho hooked Elia by the scruff of her neck and pulled her.
He used to carry sleeping Nia around dangling from it, but his fishing skills had improved dramatically.
"Wait a minute! It was a joke! Put that slingshot down first!"
"I'll repay ten times what I received. It's one of the Yodel Ranger's Ten Commandments!"
"I'm hearing that for the first time."
"I just made it up. Anyway, prepare yourself, you old hag on your last legs. You just hit me, and now I have a bump on my forehead."
"Ugh."
Thump thump thump! Whack whack!
I turned my gaze away from the escalating battle.
Normally, Kamela would have helped Elia beat him up, but even she was pretending not to see now.
That was how formidable Satan Kancho's momentum was.
"So, Master, what are you going to do? Are we going to keep working with them for now?"
"Yeah. It's too sweet to give up right away."
I smiled.
The auto-hunting in the Tower of Despair was sweeter than I had expected.
I had to keep milking it until the sweetness ran out.
I turned my gaze to the Tower of Despair tickets stored in my inventory.
Since it was sweet, let's make it even sweeter.
I needed to go get a section compression ticket.
"Of course."
I stood up and looked at Marvin and his army, who were still fighting.
"I'll have to erase those guys."
I had mentioned Nia's alias to test the waters.
Marvin Rodogus was a character with an annoyingly high level of suspicion.
If I let him go like this, he might use his unnecessary insight.
"Kancho."
"Yodel Ranger unit... Hey, hag! Let go of this! Do you want your last remaining staff to break too?!"
Bang! Bang! After hitting him a couple more times with the slingshot to finish him off, Kancho came running over with a whoosh.
"Yodel Ranger Vice-Captain Kancho! You called!"
"Kancho, want to try out your new weapon?"
The moment I finished speaking, a fierce light gleamed in Kancho's eyes.
It was the mad destructive instinct of a Satan Yodel.
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T/N:
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